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Welcome...

Who is the Coalition of British Political Societies?

Our mission statement:

We are a non-partisan coalition to further and serve the interests of undergraduate students interested in politics.

The CBPS was set up at a meeting organised under the auspices of C-SAP in Birmingham in November 2005. We are a group of undergraduate societies from universities across the UK who share an interest in helping undergraduates with an interest in politics to expand their knowledge and take advantage of employment opportunities.

Membership is open to any society at a UK university that has an interest in politics and yet is not devoted to any political party or single interest campaigning group. Individual members of these societies will automatically be able to take advantage of what the CBPS offers. If these groups wish to become involved they may join the list of non-affiliated groups and still avail themselves of the informational aspects of the CBPS.

The CBPS has undertaken to realise a series of objectives in order serves the interests of the undergraduate students interested in politics. So far this includes:

providing opportunities for students from different universities to share their opinions on topical issues via online forums;
creating a location where students and employers can share information about job and work placement opportunities in the political sphere;
enabling societies to promote their events on a nationwide basis, while at the same time availing themselves of events taking place at other universities;
facilitating the exchange of useful information regarding academic resources, such as journals, websites and books via a peer review system – for students by students;
Supplying information to interested students across the UK regarding the creation and development of politically minded societies.

The CBPS itself will also organise national events to which members of affiliated societies will be invited.

This is a preliminary set of objectives suggestions are more than welcome and please contact us at: as662@gre.ac.uk. The CBPS wishes for all members to be as proactive as possible in its development.

All information on this website was correct at time of publication. The CBPS cannot accept responsibility for incorrect data or for content posted by others.

Creating your own political Society

Why you should set up a society at your university (and how to go about it)

Setting up a society at university is a simple and fun way to bring together likeminded students, and it won’t hurt your CV either! Politically driven societies (be they model United Nations, Debating or simply ‘Politics’ societies) create opportunities for discussion and argument on issues that excite and affect students outside the confines of the classroom.

While it varies from university to university there is a general pattern of requirements to fulfil. The first thing to do is contact your union and/or the politics department to see what societies already exist with a similar remit and what procedures to follow.

Conditions for creating a society will normally include:

Officers: President, Treasurer, Secretary etc.
Minimum number of members (this varies)
A constitution of some sort

Having achieved this (and filled in the requisite forms!) you then need to actually put on some events. Suggestions include:

Getting speakers on interesting (and current) topics to come talk to your members
Organising debates between students or experts on political issues
Running trips to places of particular political prominence, e.g. Parliament, the Welsh Assembly or even the Local Council offices
Arrange social occasions where members can meet each other, perhaps with a political topic/relevant book or article as a focus of discussion

Societies already part of the CBPS

List of Members (and interested yet non-affiliated groups)

Founder Members:

Greenwich Politics Society

Bristol University Politics Society

http://www.ubu.org.uk/main/Societies/societieslist/Politics

Newcastle Politics Society

Birmingham Politics Society

Birmingham Model United Nations Society

Goldsmiths Debating Society

Peterhouse Politics Society (Cambridge) http://www.srcf.ucam.org/petamals/clubs.php?club=Politics

What happens when you join.

Affiliated Members:

Affiliation entitles you to:

Send representatives to the thrice yearly committee meetings
Send members to our events, including careers fair and high profile speaker events
Full access to website content for your members and opportunities to join in online discussions

Non-affiliated Societies:

Send members to our events, including careers fair and high profile speaker events
Full access to website content for your members and opportunities to join in online discussions

It must be noted that the CBPS is a non-partisan organisation and so does not wish for interest driven societies to push their agendas through our website or at our events.